Countdown to Zero
by GeekyGamerCat
Summary: One-Shot Couplets that lead to Mega man Zero: Original Concept fan fic. Will have minor spoilers and a little humour.


**ReFoRmEd**

"What do you mean you've reformed for good?" asked a black and gold robot as he stared at his creator in utter disbelief. An old man stood packing assorted pieces of hardware into boxes. He had already finished four already. Most of the tech that was in his lab was now gone.

"I mean it this time, Forte, now that Dr. Light and I have resolved our issues. There is no reason for Mega Man or you to fight anymore." Dr. Wily then turned around to face the angry robot. "Now come here so I can shut you and Treble down."

"No way!" Forte shouted. He ignored the part of his programing that screamed the first of the three laws of robotics. Then he and Treble stormed out of the castle. He was going to make well sure he wasn't going in some box.

 **FoReSt**

She found him as she took her usual stroll in the woods. She liked the fresh air and the animals, it was much better than a stuffy house or a boring sterile lab. Midway in the forest, Roll Light found her brother's former rival and his 'dog' propped up against a tree. Both of them were deactivated. Forte had his hand around his K-9 companion as if petting him. It would have been cute if the blond didn't already know who they were. She also noticed that Forte was damaged at his arm and leg joints.

'I could just leave them…' she thought. If it were the other way around Forte would let her be a house for birds. Then again he has saved her before; maybe she should return the favor.

 **MeRcY**

He couldn't wrap his head around it. Two weeks have passed since Creampuff had saved him, and he was being treated like a member of this weirdo family. When he first woke here, he saw the dweeb and was going to shoot his sister if he didn't agree to fight him. Surprising, though, Megaman refused and told Forte that Cre-Roll had saved him. This surprised the black and gold robot, his programing and guilt had conflicted with each other, Forte finally let guilt win. He then lowered his gun and frowned.

They had questioned him on why he was broke down in the forest. With much reluctance Forte explained. "Wily was going to shut me down. So I ran away so I wouldn't comply with my program. I ran into the forest and broke my joints. I rather rust than be shoved in some box."

They pitied him, in his opinion, so the Light household agreed to let him stay granted they take the destroy Megaman and the 'obey Wily' protocol commands out of his programming. Forte reluctantly agreed and now he was helping around the house.

How humiliating.

 **KnIcK-kNaCk**

Forte stared at it as it did the same to him. It was both fascinating and stupid all at once. He had been bored before as Roll had dragged him to a stupid hobby shop. She needed sewing materials, and never once had he ever stepped in a human infested place like this unless it was to blow it up. Yet here he was staring at a puppy in a raincoat knick-knack.

Its fur was a brown and had floppy ears. Its smile vacant, but Forte found it to remind him of Treble when he wanted to play 'fetch the robot arm.' The detail of its fur was also interesting, how could a lump of clay make such peculiar trinkets?

"Do you want it?" Roll asked suddenly appearing behind him with a basket of her supplies.

Forte scoffed throwing his arms in its direction, "no, look at it, it's stupid. All it does is just sit there."

"You've been staring at it for ten minutes" she said shaking her head. "Well, I'm about to check out so if you want it you better decide in the next five minutes." She then walked past him as Forte stared back at the knick-knack trying to think.

As the cashier was ringing in the items, she noticed her last item was a puppy in a rain. She looked and saw two children robots. One was a smiling girl and the other a flustering boy in combat armor.

He gave a weak glare at the lady, "not a word," he ground out. The lady rang the figurine without question.

 **HeRo**

"ARRUH!" shouted the black and gold robot. "I can't take it anymore! I need to do something that's not house work or my circuits are going to fry from boredom!" Sitting at the table with Forte was Rock, Roll, and Auto. Auto still didn't like Forte but kept it to himself.

"Well why don't you help the city like I did?" Rock suggested.

"And be a goody two-shoes like you? No thanks, I have my pride to keep."

"Why not," asked Roll. "It's not like you didn't help save the city before? A lot of people really appreciated your help."

"Yeah right, dweeb over here got a medal while I got a lecture from Protoman."

"No, I'm serious people like the thought of a Wily-bot doing something good instead of destroying the town." Roll reassured. "Besides, think of all the attention you'd receive."

"And how secretly annoyed Wily would be if he decided to come out of retirement and you took my butt kicking job instead of obeying his command." Rock added in. if there was one thing him and Forte agreed on it was that Wily didn't liked to stay 'reformed' for very long.

"Hm, that would make him mad…" Forte thought aloud. He also did miss being center of attention. Then finally he decided, "Okay, I guess I could do something to get me on TV. It's not like there's anything good on."

Few weeks later Forte was finding out he was enjoying this hero stuff. So far he caught three bank robbers. Two jewel thieves and some black market goods traders. Who knew criminals were so dumb.

 **ViSiTe**

Two months had passed since Forte became a hero. Today, though, the Light house hold was getting a visit from Dr. Light's longtime friend, Dr. Cossack. He was also bringing his daughter Kalinka. Forte had yet to meet ether of them. He wasn't too thrilled about meeting some random teen, but when they came to the house Forte was in for the shock of his life.

"Thomas, what is the meaning of this?" Dr. Cossack asked incredulously. The red haired man was pointing at Forte.

"Oh, Mikhail, this is Forte. He's a former DWN." said the jolly old man.

"Dr. Wily stole one of my robot designs and made him into a super weapon!" the Russian yelled out raged. At learning this Forte had a new found rage toward Wily. He would have gone after the old goat if not for Roll and Kalinka talking him out of it.

 **QuInT**

That blue idiot. THAT BLUE IDIOT! How on earth could he be so stupid! He should have known better. Rock let Wily take him and now it was up to Forte to save his sorry butt. Although this would give him some serious street cred if he did. Imagine that Megaman have to be saved by his former enemy. As forte stormed the top Wily's castle he expect to be greeted by another junkbot, but he was wrong.

Very wrong.

What stood in front of his was Megaman but different. He was green and yellow, sporting a pair of shades like his brother, Blues. Forte stared in anger and shock, what did Wily do to him? The only thing that reminded Forte that he needed to fight was the fact that a pogo-jackhammer fell from the sky, and Wily's eerily laugh filled the room. He made a silent apology to Roll.

This would be the hardest battle Forte would ever have.

 **AfTeRmAtH**

After Wily redesigned Megaman he sent the robot on a rampage. Forte barely made it out alive, and Treble was destroyed protecting him. Days passed by but no sightings of Megaman or Wily had been seen. Protoman and other Light-bots had taken out the last Wily-bots while Forte was being repaired. But then it happened… Dr. Light got in the mail a letter.

A letter to shut down all sentient robots.

Knowing Blues would take any opportunity to run he left him a very important item. "This is the key to all of the robot-masters I could find. Give it to Mikhail and he'll keep it safe." Cossack was the only safe place for the light-bot to hide. Blues looked at his father and gave him one last hug before he teleported away. Light walked to his basement and began working on his new robot. One that would change the world.

 **PrOmIsE**

Roll felt like the world was caving in around her. Her brothers were either missing or in hiding, and she only had a week to stay active. She watched as Forte was being repaired by Dr. Light, Auto was already shutdown due to being the size of a human. Light had put off deactivating Roll because she had a way of keeping Forte calm since the robot had taken a liking to her in his own way. Dr. Light needed him active to do diagnostics on his system. Over the year he had been living with them he matured from being a loud mouth egotistical child to an outstanding hero. But even though he was designed by Dr. Cossack…

He was still considered a Wily-bot.

"I don't get it, Light, why are you fixing me?" Forte asked, "I'm going into stasis."

"Because, if the people are in danger, they're going to need someone to help them." Light answered as he worked on Forte's buster, "at least until-."

"Your replacement for Rock is done with kindergarten." Forte interrupted with a scoff. "He'll be in for a rude awakening when he's done."

Light did respond to forte's reasoning, but he did deny his accusation, though. "X is not a replacement of Rock. Just like Rock and Roll weren't a replacement for Blues."

"Sure and Wily didn't replace me with a girly-looking robot." Forte's rebuttal caused Light to sigh. There was no winning with him was there? The elderly man then left the room to grab a power core for the buster.

"He's getting older you know," Roll imputed after her father left. Forte turned his head to her as she continued. "Soon he'll be gone, too. Just like Rock and Blues and all the others." She finished as she began to sob.

Forte was quiet for a moment. Finally he found the words he wanted to say. "Hey, Creampuff, I know I'm not the nicest guy around. I'm a punk and impulsive, but I keep my promises. I promise you, if I'm active again, you'll be the first person I wake. " he then held his hand out and she took it.

 **InVaSiOn**

Blues had to keep her safe until he got to the stasis pod; that was the order from Dr. Cossack. He also had to avoid the Stardroids. He thought Rock had wiped them all out, but there must have been more. Duo had even come to assist and so how he had also found Rock-now going by Quint- in a stasis pod. Most of Mikhail's robots were destroyed.

Blues finally reached the pod and place Kalinka in it. He also placed a key around her neck along with his scarf. "Keep the key safe until we get rid of the star-droids." He commanded. And without further ado he closed the pod leaving Kalinka to sleep in the pod.

 **GoNe**

They were gone and it was his entire fault. If he hadn't let his guard around Wily drop then none of this would have happen. Blues and Duo and most of the world's technology were gone, save for the things that were hidden underground. Many human's died and the Star-droids were taken out. He still had a mission though, he promised Duo. He had to protect the last of an alien civilization. The meteor Duo gave him needed to be kept safe.

Quint found where his sister and a newly repaired Forte rested in stasis and he sat between them waiting for the day human technology would be compatible for the gentle creature that was protected in this space rock.

And so he waited.

 **AwOkE**

Her eyes shot open as the pod door hissed. She was surrounded but the only thing to register in her mind was the blue figure standing in front of her. Megaman? No, the figure was too tall. In a panic Kalinka jumped out of the pod.

"Whoa, whoa, calm down, miss." The blue robot pleaded with her, but the blond was frantic.

"WHERE AM I?! WHERE'S MY FATHER?!" Kalinka screamed hysterically as she pounded at the robot's chest. He gently gripped and spoke calmingly to her.

"Miss what year do you think it is?"

"205X," she said quickly. The blue robot then shook his head.

"No, miss, it's 225X."

 **AdJuStInG**

The blue robot was name X, Kalinka had come to learn. He was part of a race of robots called reploids **.** Kalinka could see that they were the remnants of Light's technology. The humans were well maintained to the point of ignorance. Kalinka pretended to get along with those around her, but she could feel the jealousy of others surrounding her.

Who could blame them?

Kalinka had only been awake a year and she was already beating even the brightest minds of Arcadia. He knowledge of past technology made her more capable of understanding something that had been lost. There was at least one colleague whom appreciated her intelligence.

Douglas.

He was a former Maverick hunter mechanic, and he said that ever since he was built he wanted to be an archeologist. Sadly, though, humans negated him to mechanical assistance at Maverick HQ. Only, now was he able do the things he wanted to do. Sometime the reploid would help her out if she was confused on what she was supposed to do. Kalinka's teachers had a habit of trying to trip her up. Douglas became like a mentor to her, showing the blond the ropes, while she explained what the internet was or perfecting teleportation.

She soon became head of the science division and archeology unit. She did so just to find any other Robot Masters.

 **FoUnD**

She found three of them, Forte, Roll, and Rock. The now green Mega man had a death grip and a meteor rock. As Kalinka went to touch the rock, an electrical spark made contact with her skin. Douglas unbeknownst to him also went to examine it. This time thought it became an electrical current and it reactivated Rock and the meteor broke in half.

"Ka-lin-ka, tha you?" Rock asked in a glitch tone.

Kalinka nodded, but didn't say a word. She was staring at what came out of the meteor. Douglas then asked what everyone was thinking.

"Is that a baby?"

 **StOlEn**

It had been two years since Forte, Roll, and Rock (whom now goes by Quint.) were given new reploid bodies. But it was becoming harder and harder to hide them from Neo Arcadia's eye as more rules were being put on reploids.

"So why do we need to hide outside of Neo Arcadia?" Quint asked as he held a toddler girl in his arms as she giggled.

"Because you three are unregistered reploids now and if they find out that your coding is as old as it is you can kiss your free will goodbye." Douglas explained. "Plus, some Kalinka's files have been hacked and they show her taking part stocks."

"So you need use to hide since we're evidence," Roll concluded.

"This is stupid, if we're supposed to be like the humans, and think for ourselves, why can't we do what we want?" Forte questioned angrily, "I say we should just go down town and punch X in the face for being a pushover."

"Yes… let's give human more of a reason to hate reploids." Quint said with a bite of sarcasm. Forte wanted to punch him now, but he was still holding a kid.

Kalinka then came rushing in and handed Roll the key to other Robot Masters and a communication device. Next she handed Forte a tool box and sub-tank supply. She then took the child away from Quint and said, "You three must go quickly, if you need anything contact me with the communication device. The humans no longer use the internet so it should be safe. I also gave you coordinated to teleport with if you need supplies."

With that the three reploids said their goodbyes and headed into the unknown.

 **BeTrAyAl**

Axl was new to the Maverick hunters, and he was on the lunar exploration team. The humans were making a large elevator to the earth and moon. In Axl's honest opinion it was a stupid idea, why not fix earth before making claims on the moon? But then again he was a hunter not a scientist, what did he know?

Lately, though, his team has been acting odd, and there have been a lot of incidents happening to the humans. It wasn't until his unit leader almost had him retire a human that he knew something was up. He reported it and X was personally going to come to the moon.

At first meeting X seemed like what everyone else said he was, kind and ready to fight any evil. Axl didn't question X when he ordered to take out his former teammates, but when he finally got to Red Alert, his former leader, he knew something was off.

"You know it's funny, Axl," Red Alert said to his former comrade. "I thought you would have _chosen_ to join us, to take the moon for all new generation reploids."

"What do ya mean by that?" Axl asked confused.

Red Alert laughed, "We New-Gens can choose to go maverick at will. Things have changed; things are no longer in black and white. Old reploids like X here, are just tools to the humans. Never has he questioned their motives. He never wondered if they could go maverick."

"How dare you say that!" X shout angrily. "Humans can't go maverick!"

A battle ensued Axl helped X fight Red Alert, and when the battle ended. Soon enough though X drew his buster on Axl and shot him. "I'm Sorry Axl, but I can't let there be any chance of you New-Gen reploids going maverick. I'm going to have to retire you all."

Thinking quickly Axl was able to escape his death by jumping out of the building. He needed to get to an escape pod off the moon. Days past on his search for one, along the way he met three other New- Gen reploids. They were Nana, Cinnamon, and Steel Massimo, with their help Axl found an escape pod big enough for the four of them. They headed straight for earth and crashed landed.

 **HeLp**

Wandering through the desert, Forte, Roll and Quint decided to bunker down in an abandoned building. Turns out the building was an old rations factory, and since they now required food as a fuel source it was much appreciated. The next day, they wandered farther and came across a crashed ship. Forte and Quint went to check it out while Roll waited for them.

The two Robot Masters found four unconscious reploids, Forte smirked as he commented. "Well looks like we got some new lackeys to help us out."

"And if they're mavericks?" Quint questioned giving the cloaked robot a look.

"Then we shoot'em, besides, s'not like they can infect us." Forte relented nonchalantly, "and we wouldn't want to put Creampuff in harm's way."

Quint gave a smirk that would have made Blues proud. "So you do like my sister…interesting."

The comment caused Forte to blush, "shut u-." he soon cut himself off when one of the reploids groaned. Smirking as he walked over to the spikey haired one. The young reploid looked at him.

"W-who are you?" the spikey reploid asked, too weak to fight.

"That depends on you." Forte said looking down at him, "we could be friends or we could be foes. What are you willing to bargain to live?"

"Anything!" the pink hair one shouted as she too awoke, "just please don't let X kill us!"

Quint smiled, lackeys it is, "I'll go fetch Roll."

 **ReSiStAnCe**

Years past, the New Gen reploids worked and help find many Robot Masters. Though so far, they never found Pharaoh man, Skull man, or Splash woman. They soon began to become a nomadic community, fixing and repair the places they stayed at.

Soon word spread of the reploids being killed in Neo Arcadia, Kalinka informed them that she was sending surviving reploids over to them. They would be under the leadership of a woman named Eliza Chaud. They soon formed a resistance and the Robot Masters became a split group as more and more reploids came. Within time a young scientist had soon joined and more battles were fought and many had died until the day Zero had awakened…

 **END**


End file.
